Dawn Patrol:

Phil Marshall grew up in Newport Beach and I knew him as a guy who excelled in anything he took an interest in, and seemingly without expending much effort.

He was one of the best surfers and hottest guitar players around, so as the years passed I wasn’t surprised to hear of Phil’s considerable achievements as an arranger and composer — writing the musical scores for dozens of films, winning Grammy awards, and working with diverse artists from B.B. King to Sir George Martin.

Tonight Phil will be back in town with his good friend, film producer and director Dana Brown (“Step Into Liquid”, “Dust to Glory”) for the premier of their latest film collaboration, “Highwater.”

“Highwater” is a dramatic documentary about the surfers and host of other characters who come to Oahu’s North Shore for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing — three contests held within the period between Halloween and Christmas where the world’s best surfers compete in the biggest, most challenging waves to be found. The story is told with the film Dana and his crew shot during one season and Phil’s musical score.

“For six weeks the attention of the entire surfing world is focused on the North Shore,” Dana said. “The population of the small community increases by 10,000 during this time. Sometimes there are more photographers on the beach than surfers in the water. Some people are hiding, others are trying to be noticed, and everybody’s there for the waves. There are so many stories and stories within stories I knew even if the waves weren’t that good I’d have a film.”

But the waves were good. In fact Phil describes them as, “the best waves I can remember for the Triple Crown.”

Helping to weave the stories into a cohesive unit is Phil’s musical score, special for two reasons. First, as Phil told me, “There’s not one note of surf music — it’s all dramatic and about nature. We used a 65 piece orchestra.”

He added some other interesting instruments including ukulele, played by phenomenon Jake Shimabukuro. Most unique is how it was developed.

“Normally I come in at the end of a movie and write the score to the edited film,” Phil said. “This time we decided to use music from the beginning so Dana could edit with it.”

To do this, the composer must understand surfing. Phil has called the North Shore his second home for over 20 years. He’s considered a local, and in his mid-50s, he’s still comfortable surfing Pipeline or 15-foot Sunset Beach. “I could speak in broad terms about a feeling I’d want,” Dana explained. “And, Phil was able to translate that into music. We don’t have actors or scenes so the music becomes a character.”

“Highwater” begins an exclusive three-eek run tonight at the Regency Lido Theatre in Newport Beach. With the U.S. Open in full swing next door the appearance of surfing celebrities is likely. Show times are at 7:30 and 9:40. Tickets and more information are available at: www.regencymovies.com

JOHN BURTON’S surf column appears Fridays.